sickle
part of speech
noun (a sickle, sickles); adjective (sickle-shaped)
meaning for a pupil
1) A farm tool with a short handle and a curved, C-shaped blade, used for cutting grass, grain or corn by hand. tree →
2) Something shaped like this blade, such as a sickle moon (a thin crescent moon). tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah, the counting of the Omer begins when the sickle is first put to the standing grain, giving the seven weeks up to Shavuot. Joel uses the sickle as a picture of judgment: "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe," meaning the time for punishing the wicked has come. Interpretation: The tradition reads the sickle as the start of the harvest and the counting to Shavuot. It reads Joel's harvest as God ripely judging the nations for their wickedness. In the primary lessons: In history lessons the sickle is an old harvest tool, used before machines. On the old Soviet flag the hammer and sickle stood for workers and farmers. In science lessons sickle cell disease is a blood illness in which red blood cells bend into a sickle shape. In stories and pictures, the Grim Reaper carries a scythe, which is a larger tool than a sickle.
examples
- Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee; from the time the sickle is first put to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. (Torah DEU.16.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- When thou comest into thy neighbour's standing corn, then thou mayest pluck ears with thy hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn. (Torah DEU.23.25, JPS 1917) tree →
- Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, tread ye, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. (Prophets JOL.4.13, JPS 1917) tree →
- The farmer cut the wheat with a sickle. tree →
- A thin sickle moon hung in the evening sky. tree →
- The old flag showed a hammer and sickle. tree →
- In sickle cell disease, red blood cells are curved. tree →
- Be careful: the blade of a sickle is very sharp. tree →
- People harvested crops with sickles long before tractors. tree →
- Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle, and looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze. tree →
note
Countable: a sickle, sickles. Do not confuse with "scythe" (long handle, big blade, used standing up) or "tickle". Safety: real sickles are sharp tools for adults only.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sickle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.